This present invention relates to the manufacture of jelly gum confectionaries by casting, more particularly to a process for preparing cast confectionaries utilizing unique high amylose starches and to the confectionaries thus produced.
Jelly gum confectionaries, which typically include familiar candies such as gum drops, gum slices, fruit gums (imitation fruit pieces), and jelly beans, are characteristically resilient, relatively rigid, and have a short texture. While many compositions have been employed in the preparation of such confections, the most typical composition comprises an aqueous dispersion of various sweeteners and a gelling starch component. The aqueous dispersions are typically cast, i.e., deposited hot into molds to set to shape. In this casting system, referred to in the trade as the Mogul system, the ingredients, including a thin boiling starch or a combination of a high amylose starch and a thin boiling starch, are cooked at a moisture above the final moisture of the confectionary, and deposited as a thin, hot liquid into a mold generally formed of dry starch. The starch in the mold forms the confectionary pieces and serves to reduce the moisture content of the confectionary pieces to the level of the end product. Typically, the cooked moisture level is about 15-50% in commercial continuous pressure cooking and batch (e.g., kettle) cooking systems; the final moisture content is about 12-21%.
The aqueous dispersions preferably have thin hot viscosities and upon cooling set to provide firm gel structures. The hot flow viscosity of the dispersion should be thin to afford easy handling during deposition. If the dispersion is too thick, misshaped candies may result due to non-uniform amounts of gum being deposited. Undesirable tailing may also occur which is a result of the inability of the thick dispersion to form a clean break after deposition into one mold prior to deposition into a subsequent mold. The threads connecting the gum pieces represent a loss to the finished goods yield.
Fluidity corn starches have been advantageously employed in jelly gum confectionaries due to the thinner hot paste viscosities they exhibit. Accordingly, larger quantities of fluidity corn starch may be employed in comparison to unconverted (i.e., nondegraded native) starch in order to give pastes of comparable hot flow viscosity. When these hot pastes are cooled, it has been shown that the gel strength of the fluidity starch paste is considerably greater than the gel strength of the unmodified starch paste. See Chemistry and Industry of Starch, 2nd Edition, R. W. Kerr, Academic Press Inc., New York (1950), pgs. 559-562 for a discussion regarding jelly gum confections and their properties.
Various patents have taught the manufacture of jelly gum concessionaires by casting. They include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,218,177 (issued Nov. 16, 1965 to J. Robinson et al.) describes jelly starch base candies which employ from about 5-10%, based on dry substance weight, of a starch or starch mixture having an amylose to amylopectin ratio in the range of 75:25 to 40:60. The starch portion is gelatinized at from about 135.degree. C. (275.degree. F.) to temperatures not in excess of those at which the starch degrades. When starch mixtures containing more than 75% amylose are used, the candy is of poor texture and quality. When the starch mixtures contain less than 40% amylose, the properties of the candy are similar to those made by conventional methods using a thin confectioner's cooking starch.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,628 (issued May 27, 1969 to T. Schoch et al.) describes a starch-based jelly gum confection which employs as a congealing agent a thin-boiling cereal starch having an amylose content not in excess of 35% and a fat content not in excess of 0.3%..
U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,627 (issued Sept. 30, 1980 to C. Moore) describes a method for demolding confectionary products, especially high amylose candies such as jelly gums, fondant creams, and the like which contain a high amylose starch as the congealing agent. The liquid confections are deposited into molds, allowed to set, and thereafter expelled from the molds by steam pressure. The high amylose starches suggested for use therein contain at least 35% amylose and are preferably hydrolyzed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,957 (issued Feb. 23, 1987 to N. L. Lacourse et al.) describes a jelly gum confection based on a starch blend comprising (a) from 25-99% of an acid- or enzyme-converted high amylose starch having an amylose content of 65-80% and a calcium chloride viscosity of about 16-200 seconds and (b) from 1-75% of a starch having an amylose content of at least 25% which may be an unconverted starch and/or converted starch other than the acid- or enzyme-converted high amylose starch. This confection is characterized by its desirably low hot flow viscosity (20 seconds) and high gel strength (at least 14 g cm.sup.2, at 74-84% solids).
While most jelly gum confectionaries use high amylose starch (about 30-60 parts) to obtain candies that will set to a firm enough gel for further processing in 24 hours or less, it is necessary to cook these starches at about 168.degree. C. (335.degree. F.) in superatmospheric cookers, such as jet cookers, to obtain the gelling properties. The use of such high temperatures strains the capabilities of most jet cookers and is not energy efficient.
Accordingly, there is need for an improved process for preparing starch-based, quick setting jelly gum confectionaries which can be cooked at temperatures as low as 124.degree.-141.degree. C. (256.degree.-285.degree. F.) in a continuous cooker under pressure or even under atmospheric cooking conditions, e.g. in a kettle.